1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to a system for heating food stuffs in order to manufacture a crab meat tasting boiled fish paste (hereinafter referred to as "kanifu-kamaboko"), a bamboo leaf shaped boiled fish paste (hereinafter referred to as "sasa-kamaboko"), a cylindrical boiled fish paste (hereinafter referred to as "chikuwa"), a wooden-soled boiled fish paste (hereinafter referred to as "itatsuki-kamaboko") and so forth, which are mainly constituted by minced flesh of fish meat as a raw material for example.
2. Description of the Related Art
As the food stuffs mainly constituted by the minced flesh of fish meat as the raw material, there are kanifu-kamaboko, sasa-kamaboko, chikuwa, itatsuki-kamaboko and so forth. These paste food stuffs are produced by forming a paste-like minced flesh of fish meat, which is obtained by mincing the fish meat into various shapes. The kanifu-kamaboko uses the minced flesh of the fish meat as the raw material and is produced by forming to provide a belt shape which has a multitude of slits therein. The itatsuki-kamaboko is produced by mounting the minced flesh of the fish meat onto a rectangular plate, and the chikuwa is produced by winding the minced flesh of the fish meat around a rod member.
These food stuffs are heated for holding a predetermined shape and for sterilization after these food stuffs are formed to provide predetermined shapes, using the minced flesh of the fish meat as the raw material. Ordinarily, for this heating, a steamer is used to heat the food stuffs with steam. However, if these paste food stuffs are heated with steam, it takes much time for heating and a large-sized heating system is required.
Then, there has been developed such a heating system, in which an electric current is flowed through the minced flesh which has been formed in a state of being clamped between electrodes, the minced flesh is heated by Joule heat, whereby the minced flesh is heated to a predetermined temperature.
Japanese Patent Kokai (Laid-Open) No. 27365/1992 discloses a system for heating food stuffs invented by the inventor of the present application, in which two endless belt type electrodes are used, and the food stuffs are conveyed in a state of being clamped between these electrodes, whereby the food stuffs are heated. When a thin belt-shaped minced flesh is heated by use of the belt-shaped electrodes, it is not easy to maintain the thickness of the belt-shaped minced flesh to a predetermined thickness.